Monday, March 14, 2011

My Very Own Apartment Therapy

Hey Y'all!

It has been beeeeuuutiful around here and the spring weather has my creative juices flowing. Every year around this time I go thru my apartment in order to renew, reduce, refresh. Just getting out some of the insane clutter that builds up over the years and give my place a new look. What I really want to do is redecorate, paint, buy new furniture. What my budget wants me to do is give the apartment a good scrub down and make small changes here and there.

I read this book a few years ago, but did not dedicate myself to an 8 week home cure until now. If you have never been to the Apartment Therapy site you must check it out. It has bazillions of great home ideas: from cleaning, decorating, DIY, and lots of visual inspiration! The basic principles of The 8 Week Home Cure are:

1. Clean each room from top to bottom

2. Reorganize spaces that aren't working, tweak areas that are

3. Think about the flow and energy of your space, how you can open up some spaces and use them more efficiently.

4. Make small cleaning efforts every day: buy fresh flowers once and week, clean your floors weekly, and wash and dry all dirty dishes every night.

I am also adding a few new pieces, repainting a few, hanging new pictures. I am really excited! So far, I have cleaned my front door and entrance area, and deep cleaned the living room furniture.

In interest of full disclosure and keeping myself honest, I thought I would let you in on a few dirty little secrets (aka parts of my space that are DEFINITELY not working..hehe) Keep in mind I live in and efficiency apartment: one large living/dining room, kitchen, bedroom, bath, and two large closets. I have a lot of things out in the open that I wish I didn't, and some of these spaces might seem crazy to you. However, I think in general I have created a really good space with the space I have (motivated by excellent building, cheap rent, and crazy good utility costs!)

Toxic Area #1: 'The office'

This space is dedicated to anything officey I use. My lovely HP 3-in-1 printer sits on top of a repurposed kitchen island. Underneath I keep: blank CDs, various printer papers, extra binders waiting to be fill with ??, mailing supplies, and a bag of stuff I use for OWL. Currently it also being used for: crafty overflow, messy piling, and a cord monster. Scary...

Toxic Area #2: The Kitchen's Bottom Half:

My kitchen is a long, narrow room. It recently got a fresh coat of tan paint and it is really bright! That is, from the top up. The bottom cabinets and floor...well......As you can see my wheelchair has taken quite a few nibbles out of the cabinets and those lovely apple stickers were half removed-by me-5 years ago. I can't believe I just admitted that. These girls are getting a fresh cost, an appleectomy, and the floor is going to get a hands and knees scrubdown. I'll admit, I am not the best mopper, so there are little bits shoved in the corners that will be history soon.

Toxic Area #3: 'The Renaissance Closet'

WOW. Mt head kind of hurts just looking at this poor thing. This is a large, L-shaped closet that is required to hold a LOT of my life: holiday stuff is tucked in the back, Coats are hung up, to the right you can see a poor suffocating baby armoire, and in front are all my crafting supplies. The left is workout weights and a roll or two of wrapping paper. Normally this is a well oiled machine. Months of busyschedulemanyprojectsgenerallaziness have REALLY taken its' toll on this closet. P.S. For those of you that remember the Great Summer Mouse Caper-this is where the little bugger would hide- I wonder why ; )

Toxic Area #4: The Powder Room:

I have to admit-I really like this room as is. I love the purple that we painted it when I moved in, and I have three b&w printing that I love. However I made a deal with my landlord that I would repaint it when I moved out, and I am hoping that will be in a year or so. It will hopefully get a fresh coat of paint and I already have three new pictures picked out.

Toxic Area #5: The dresser:

I need some advice here. I have two vintage blond wood colored dressers, and for years I have had this little collection of favorite photos in silver frames. I always like how it looked together, but it has been years...and maybe time for a change? Any thoughts? I change out a few pictures here and there, but never the frames. I am thinking of maybe keeping some silver frames, adding a few white, and maybe one or two pink (to match my bedspread). I am also thinking about a little vinyl treatment for the wall behind. I have a new place in mind for the BIG B.

Toxic Area #6: The Media Center:

Behold the eyesore of my living room-my circa 2005 5 disc CD changer with tape deck?? Yeah. I think the last time owned a tape was......I have no idea. Also, I have recently loaded all my CD's into iTunes (sounds tedious, but really not that bad), so I really use my iPod and my computer for all my music and radio needs. It is time to use this space a lot more efficiently. p.s.Is it just me or do the books in the bottom right hand corner look like they are trying to squeeze the life out of the silver 'x' bookend?

I am suddenly filled with dread thinking about all the work ahead of me. Luckily, I am not alone. Succotash is fully supportive and ready to work! ha

At least he's cute, he is certainly not helpful.

Thanks for stopping by. Leave me any links you have to great websites for DIY and decorating.Also, what do you think I should do with the photos in my bedroom?